Alganon Class Interview #4 - The Healer

By -
May 17, 2009

Despite their complexities, hundreds of studios all across the world love
taking shots at developing massively multiplayer online games. Even
independent developers are willing to take the plunge, and thus the
Quest Online team is preparing to unleash their upcoming fantasy-themed
MMO Alganonto an awaiting public.

The game aims to be as feature rich and content deep as games like World of Warcraft. The developers working on Alganon have an addictive passion that's easily displayed in their candid answers to our interview questions. There are currently four classes being released at launch with additional classes making their appearance sometime afterward.

In the fourth class interview for Alganon, the Ten Ton Hammer staff explores the Healer class. While it may seem like a mild mannered health bestower at first, the Healer actually packs quite the punch in Alganon and should be some fun to play when you get the chance. Have a look

Ten Ton Hammer: Where
does the Healer fit into the lore of Alganon? Are these
individuals trained to be Healers from the moment of their birth, or
are they chosen by divine beings to aid the defenseless and heal the
weak?

Hue Henry: A
Healer is more than just a student of the healing arts. Chosen by the
gods, these individuals were born with an innate control over the life
energy that flows through all living things. Although they are free to
worship any god they wish, the Healers of the Asheroth were chosen
before birth, and gifted by Triasha, the goddess of Life, with the
power to heal the weak and cure the sick. As children, they are trained
by the various temples to use this talent to its utmost. However, with
the power over life, they also gain the ability to remove that life.
Healers can learn to master the spirits, and use their gifts to end
life as well.

Kujix Healers, on the other hand, are chosen by Vakgarr, the god of
Change, and granted the power to control the ultimate form of change -
Death. These chosen ones hold the reigns of death in their hands, and
can choose either to use this power to bring death, or to postpone it.
Although their sources of power are very different, the end result is
the same: A Healer, regardless of whether they are Asheroth or Kujix,
holds control over life and death and wields these powers to exactly
the same effect.

Ten Ton Hammer: The
Healer has some very interesting traits, foremost of which is the
"Trance" action. Do you worry that players might abuse the "Trance"
trait and give them an unfair advantage over other players? How are you
balancing the Healers who are more proficient with the Trace action?

Henry: The
Trance action makes a Healer a valuable single target Healer, capable
of both small, rapid-fire heals, and powerful single-target heals that
are many times more powerful than when not in the Trance state.
However, these faster, more powerful heals come at a cost - they will
draw large amounts of the Healer's focus.

Healers will want to go into the Trance state when they need to heal a
single target against a powerful enemy - like when engaged in a boss
encounter, or otherwise partnered with a tank that can protect them,
and one or more DPS classes who can help to end the fight quickly.

If a Healer finds herself in a situation with many friends to heal, or
is faced with a long battle where conservation of focus is necessary
for survival, then she will want to avoid going into a Trance, as the
excess focus cost may prove to be too much for her to handle (A Healer
with no focus is no Healer at all!). The Trance state allows the same
Healer to heal fights where big heals are needed and fights where focus
conservation is the key to victory.

All Healers, no matter what specialization they choose, can enter the
Trance state and provide the right type of healing needed to keep a
tank alive during a raid boss encounter. However, if they wish to be
most effective at healing large numbers of players at the same time -
commonly known as raid healing - they will want to specialize in
Divination.

Ten
Ton Hammer: The
Trance and the Deathwalk Traits seem very similar. What's the major
difference between the two? Will players be able to use Deathwalk and
Trance at the same time?

Henry: Deathwalk
is the DPS stance for a Healer. By focusing their control over life on
the taking thereof, the Healer is able to deal out large amounts of
damage per second - equal to the damage output of the Magus. The
majority of this damage is done via instant cast damage-over-time
spells, which allow them the draw the life from multiple opponents at
the same time.

It is not possible to Deathwalk and Trance at the same time - much like
a Soldier's stances, they are mutually exclusive.

Ten Ton Hammer: How much
more damage will a player be able to employ when using the Deathwalk?

Henry: Deathwalk
will generally be the DPS stance, when a player wants to cause as much
damage as possible, they will need to enter this stance, and will want
to specialize in Spirit Mastery, allowing them to better tear their
enemies souls from their bodies.

Ten Ton Hammer: Looking
at the specializations for the Healer, it seems like Divination and
Channeling are more focused on healing while the Spirit Master
specialization is targeted at damage dealing. Is this a correct
assumption, or will all the specializations affect healing and damage?

Henry: All
of the specializations will have some affect on healing and damage. All
Healers, no matter how they specialize, can enter the Trance state and
heal the tank in a group encounter.

Healers who specialize in Spirit Mastery will notice a large enough
raise in their DPS while Deathwalking that they will often equal the
Magus in ability to damage groups of enemies. Healers who specialize in
Divination will find they are able to apply their healing to more than
one target, allowing them to keep the group alive in situations where a
flood of enemies has overrun the group. Healers who specialize in
Channeling will find that their spells, both healing and harming, now
carry additional effects that can boost the abilities of their party
members and reduce the abilities of their enemies.

Ten Ton Hammer: What kind
of items and equipment will Healers be able to use? Will we see armored
Healers, or will they be forced to only wear robes?

Henry: The
Healer class is a "squishy" Healer. Some of our later classes, which
will arrive after launch, will be able to wear heavier armors, but the
Healer will be restricted to light armor only. This was done to allow
us to focus the Healer's abilities entirely on their roles of healing,
DPS, and buffs/debuffs, and not be forced to reduce their abilities in
order to balance for the survivability that comes from heavier armor.

(On a side note: In Alganon,
armor comes in light, medium, and heavy flavors. We want to be able to
make armor for our less-armored classes out of many different
materials. Magic imbued metals allow blacksmiths to make lightweight
gear for casters, enchanted cloth and leathers can be as tough as
steel, allowing those crafters to make gear for heavily armored allies.
Don't think that being a Healer requires you to be a tailor, or that
all Soldiers need to be blacksmiths to be competitive!)

Ten Ton Hammer: Can you
give us some examples of Words and Touches of Power? What kind of
effects are we going to see? Mostly direct damage? Or maybe some DoTs
thrown in as well?

Henry: Words
of Power are actions with lasting effects, such as reinforcing buffs
that the Healer can place on their party members or crippling curses
they apply to their enemies. Touches, on the other hand, tend to have
instant and direct effects. For example, Word of Hatred would be a DoT
spell, while Touch of Hatred would cause damage in one powerful blow.

Although there are some spells which are only available in one style,
most of the Healer's abilities can be cast as either Touches or Words.
Healers will need to examine the situation and decide whether they wish
to perform their actions with a Word or a Touch.

Ten Ton Hammer: How often
will there be Words of Power that prevent Healers from speaking other
Word actions?

Henry: In
the current design, most of the word spells share the same cooldown
group. Players will want to choose their words wisely, as they will
often need to wait for the cooldown to expire before they can choose a
different word to apply.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is there
a cosmetic change to the Healer when they go into a Trance or Deathwalk
mode?

Henry: We
plan to include major cosmetic changes with these states, however, we
are looking to wait and see how much players enjoy these aspects before
we create the art assets. Alganon
is designed to keep growing and expanding forever - so every asset we
make is a tradeoff. Do we use this time to create a new monster, more
icons, a new instance, or use it for new appearances for Deathwalk and
Trance?
Because of this, these effects will launch in a simplified version -
such as a shift in opacity and some glowing particles. If Deathwalk
turns out to be as much fun in practice as it is in theory, we plan for
these states to result in a much grander transformation of the Healer's
appearance.

Ten Ton Hammer: Anything
else you can tell us about the Healer?

Henry: One
of the most important aspects in how we are designing Alganon is that we
consistently look for player input. We want the players of Alganon to realize
that they are an important part of what makes Alganon great. I
think Berek, our Community Manager, has hammered this into the
community well by now.

Read all the articles here at Ten Ton Hammer - not just the ones about Alganon, but about
other MMOs, too. Think about what you love most about these games.
Then, stop by our Alganon
forums and share this info with us and the rest of the community. We
want to create a game that you love to play, and to do that, we need to
hear from you!